The present invention relates generally to methods for estimating performance of impedance matching networks for transmission lines. More specifically, but without limitation thereto, the present invention relates to a computer program for finding the maximum transducer power gain attainable by any matching circuit for a given load and frequency band.
Engineers utilize a variety of methods for constructing broadband impedance matching networks. However, there is no systematic approach to optimizing power transfer uniformly over a selected frequency band.
Knowledge of the impedance function of a circuit element over a frequency band is important to determining its power consumption as well as to circuit design. For example, an engineer needs to know the impedance function of an antenna to match the impedance of the antenna to a transmission line. A circuit designer would benefit from the knowledge of what is the best performance possible for any impedance matching network as both a practical design goal and a quality indicator.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the problems described above, and may provide further related advantages. No embodiment of the present invention described herein shall preclude other embodiments or advantages that may exist or become obvious to those skilled in the art.
A predictor for optimal broadband impedance matching of the present invention computes the maximum transducer power gain possible for any impedance matching network for a given transmission line, load, and frequency band.
An advantage of the predictor for optimal broadband impedance matching of the present invention is that the optimal performance attainable over a selected frequency band by a lossless impedance matching network coupling a transmission line to a load may be computed directly from impedance samples of the load.
Another advantage is that the feasibility of a design objective for an impedance matching network may be determined before the network is built.
The features and advantages summarized above in addition to other aspects of the present invention will become more apparent from the description, presented in conjunction with the following drawings.